Bicycle holding fixture



Feb. 8,1949; NIGHTHART 7 2,460,944

BICYCLE HOLDING FIXTURE Filed June 28, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig- 1 J zrINVENTOR- ATTORNEY ca. E. NIGH'I HART I BICYCLE HOLDING FIXTURE 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 28, 1946 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 8,1949 BICYCLE HOLDING FIXTURE George Edward Nighthart, Lewistown, Pa.Application .lune 28, 1946, Serial No. 680,277 7 1 Claim. (Gl. 81-32) YThis'invention relates to a novel bicycle hold ing fixture andaccessories therefor. The invention has been developed to provideimprovedfacilities for repairing bicycles. More specifically, theinventionis adapted to the purpose of holding a bicycle and variousparts thereof firml in convenient positions for repair work to be donethereon.

Without a bicycle holding fixture, repair work onbicycles must be donewith the bicycle upside down on the floor. In this position the handlebars and saddle rest on the floor, and the parts being worked upon mustbe held by the repairman, In this situation the positions in which therepairman must workare awkward.

If a bicycle is placed on a work bench, it is virtually impossible tohold it with sumcientfirrnness to do any but the most minor kind ofrepair work without resort to some kind of improvised clamp. The use ofan ordinary type of work bench vise for this purpose is impractical,because of numerous limitations.

My invention has for its purpose the fulfillment of the needs of the.bicycle repairman. Among others the invention has for its objectsthefollowing, taken singly or in combination the provision of a bicycleholding fixture adapted to clamp two members'of the bicycle frame andpermit its location in a rotational manner at any. desired positionaround a horizontal axis; and

the provision in such a fixture of means for rotatively locating thebicycle in any desired position around a vertical axis.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear upon a furtherreading of the de-- tailed specification which immediately follows.

In the drawings, Fig, l is a plan View of a preferred embodiment of mynew bicycle holding fixture suitable for mounting on a work bench;

Fig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, of the V fixture shown inFig. i, the partial section being taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1;

' to Figs. 1 and 2 my new bicycle holding fixture Fig. 3 is a bottomview of my heavy duty steering fork clamp;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the bicycle vise portion of the fixtureshowing my pedalarm clamp and my heavy duty steering fork clamp intypical working positions (portions of a bicycle clamped and heldthereby appear in dot and dash lines);

and

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the fixture showing my steering forkstabilizer in typical working position (portions of a bicycle clampedand held thereby appear in dot and dash lines).

Referringnow to'the drawings and particularly will be described, as willthe accessories therefor. The fixture consists of four main parts:the'vise I, the vise supporting shaft 2, a pressure disc 3, and thefixture stand 4. A base plate 5 for the fixture may be secured to a workbench by suitable screws orbolts. Blocks 6 shown in dotted lines arerequired to secure the proper fixture height.

The. fixture stand l isshown to comprise two upright members and ahorizontal base member all of wood, the uprights and base members aresecured-together preferably by angle irons and suitable screws andbolts. mately central hole in the base plate 5, a central Through anapproxihole in the base member of the fixture stand 4, and acorresponding hole'in a reinforcing strap 1 on the basemember of thefixture stand-'4, there extends a vertically disposed bolt 8. The bolt 8may first pass through a suitable angle iron under the base plate 5, andat the reinforcing strap l receives a nut 9. This arrangement permits mybicycle holding fixture to be rotated as a whole aboutthe vertical axisdefined by the bolt .8. The fixture may be located in the desiredrotative position about on the single nut 9.

The fixture stand 4 supports the horizontally disposedvise' supportingshaft 2- in simple bearings located in the two upright members thereof.Be-

tween the upright fixture members and around the supporting shaft? thereis a spacer sleeve ill. Just outside-the upright member nearest the visei there is a friction disc i i, surrounding the supporting shaft 2. Thisfriction disc Ii coacts with the pressure disc 3 which ismadeintegral-with the, supporting shaft 2.

At the .end of the supporting shaft 2 opposite from the vise i there isa stud i2 extending throughthe upright member opposite that justreferred to. On the outside of this upright member'and'over the stud 52there is a clamping collar l3 and aunt M. It will be seen that the visei may be rotated to any desired position about-the horizontal axisdefined bythesupporting shaft" 2 and locked in position by drawing upon-the single nut it. Such action brings into. locking coaction the.pressure disc 3 and friction disc.

The vise -i comprises a jaw plate i5 suitably attached to the supportingshaft '2, a rear clampingjaw it, a frontclamping jaw H, and a front jawplate iii. The rear clamping jawl s is secured by suitable screws to theface of thejjaw plate 55. The front clamping jaw ii is mounted overa'vise assembly 'b oltl't' and attached to the moveable front jaw plateIt by suitable screws. The

this axis by drawing up moveable front jaw plate 19 and front clampingjaw i! are guided in their movement over the vise assembly bolt l8 byguide screws 20. The front clamping jaw l1 and moveable front jaw platel9 are pressed away from the rear clamping jaw I6 and rear jaw plate lby the coil spring 2! located over the assembly bolt 18 between thefixed parts and the moveable parts. This assembly is held together bythe nut 22 on the assembly bolt IS, the moveable front jaw plate l9bearing against the face of the nut 22. It will be readily seen thatclamping jaws l6 and I! can be drawn up on the bicycle frame members soas to clamp the same by drawing up on the single nut 22. It may be notedthat the clamping jaws l3 and I! are made of hard wood which isdesirable for its frictional and non-marking characteristics. The jawsare especially designed, as will appear upon reference to other views,to grip two of the bicycle frame members simultaneously by themanipulation of the one nut 22 on the assembly bolt [8.

The main features of the bicycle holding fixture having been described,attention will now be turned to the special accessories usefultherewith. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate my new heavy duty steering forkclamp. The purpose of this device is to hold steering forks firmlyagainst rotation under heavy torque loads while removing highlyresistant parts from the bicycle fork stem, as in cases of corroded oroverexpanded parts or crossed threads. Extending downward from the jawplate [5 is a swivel mounted member 23.

This member 23 has an open slot at its lower end adapted to receive theclamping bolt 24 of my heavy duty steering fork clamp 25. The steeringfork clamp 25 shown in Fig. 3 may be mounted on or demounted from theswivel mounted member 23 as desired, utilizing the wing nut 26 on theclamping bolt 24. The steering fork clamp 25 has an elongated slot 27for adjusting the reach thereof from the swivel mounted member 23 to thesteering fork of a bicycle. It will be noted that the steering forkclamp 25 may conveniently reach in a lateral direction from just belowthe vise i to a. steering fork. At the steering fork end of the clamp 25thereis a through bolt 28, a clamping bar 29 and a nut 30 on the bolt28.

With special reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 4 I will now describe my newpedal arm clamp. The pur- Dose of the mechanism now to be described isto hold pedal arms and crank for removal or assembly of crank parts andpedals, particularly when difiiculty is experienced with corroded partsor crossed threads. Tapped'into the jaw plate l5 at one side of thecenter line thereof is a hole which receives a cap screw 3!. Between thehead of the cap screw 3| and the upright plate of the jaw plate !5 is asplit collar 32 with a locking bolt therethrough at right angles to thecap screw 3!. The locking bolt 33 passes through a slotted portion ofthe upright pedal arm clamp 34. The nut 35 on the locking bolt 33 clampsthe pedal arm clamp 34 in proper upward position and likewise clamps thesplit collar 32 in proper rotative position about the cap screw 3| Thusit will be seen that a simple manipulation of the nut 35 permits thepedal arm clamp 34 to be extended or retracted, and to be rotated aboutthe locking bolt .33, and likewise permits the pedal arm clamp 34 to berotated to any desired degree about the cap screw 3|. Engagement of thepedal arm clamp 34 with a bicycle pedal arm may be readily effected andthe pedal arm may be held in all three positions by the tightening ofthe single nut 35.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 5, I will now describe my newsteering fork stabilizer 36. The stabilizer 36 is shown in Fig. l in itsfolded, out of the way position, whereas it is shown in Fig. 5 in itstypical working position. The out of the way position is essential whenplacing the bicycle in or removing it from the fixture, and also it maybe folded out of the way when my heavy duty steering fork clamp 25 isused. The stabilizer 36 is for lighter service, particularly before thefront wheel is removed from the bicycle, but is needed not merely forholding the front wheel and handle bars in a straight line position tofacilitate work on adjacent parts and permit rotation on the horizontalaxis, but more especially for holding the fork while performingdismantling, repairing and assembly operations on 7 front wheel, axle,fender, handle bars, and accessories such as truss rods, baskets,lights, bells, speedometers, etc.

A flanged bolt 3? is secured to one corner of the outside face of thefront clamping jaw l1. Secured on this flanged bolt 3'! by a suitablewing nut 38 is a split clamp 39. The split clamp 39 is rotatable aboutthe flanged bolt 31 and may be secured in desired position by drawing upon the wing nut 38. Within the split clamp 39 are swivel jaws adapted toreceive the steering fork stabilizer 36. By reason of this assembly thesteering fork stabilizer 36 -may be extended or retracted in thedirection of the bicycle steering fork, rotated about the flanged bolt31 to accommodate it to one side of a, bicycle steering fork, and mO-Vedinwardly or outwardly to suit the width of fork being clamped, thususing one meansfor adjusting and holding of the clamp in threedirections. At the end of the steering fork stabilizer 36 furthestremoved from the flanged bolt 3? is an adjustable clamp comprised of afixed jaw attached to the steering fork stabilizer rod 36 and a moveablejaw ii slideable on the rod 35. The jaws 45 and 4! are pressed apart bya spring 42 therebetween on the rod 36. The moveable jaw '41 may bedrawn up into clamping position opposite the fixed jaw 46' by means of aclamping thumb screw 43 passing through the moveable jaw M and screwedinto the fixed jaw From the foregoing description it will be seen that Ihave provided a bicycle holding fixture having the following features.The fixture comprises a swivel mounted fixture stand and a rotationallymounted clamping vise. Single screw means are provided for iocking theswivel mounting and likewise single screw means are provided for lockingthe rotational mounting. Likewise the clamping jaws of the vise itselfare provided with a single screw means for operation thereof.

The hardwood clamping jaws are shaped to accommodate and clamp the framemembers of the bicycle near the pedal crank bearing and juncture of theframe members. It will be noted that the vise is thus adapted to firmlyclamp the main frame members of the bicycle near its center of gravity.The rotational mounting of the vise permits rotating the clamped bicycleto any desired position. Likewise the swivel mounting of the fixturestand permits swivelingof the bicycle to any convenient position fordoing work thereon.

The provision of a clamping vise which secures the bicycle at the framemembers near the pedal arm crank adapts that vise to the useof my abovedescribed accessory clamping members. The steering fork stabilizer clampmay readily be extended from the vise to the steering fork. It may beused, for instance, to stabilize the steering fork While the front wheelis being removed. The heavy duty steering fork clamp may be used, forinstance, after the wheel is removed from the steering fork. Likewisethe vise is conveniently located so that the pedal arm clamp has a shortreach to the end of one of the pedal arms. It may be used to secure thepedal arms against rotation when work is to be done on the pedal crankbearing, for instance.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the stated objectsand advantages of my invention are readily achieved. My invention haswide applicability to the. various needs of the bicycle repairman, andhas 'proven useful in actual repair shop service. It of course may takevarious forms and embodiments within the scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A bicycle holding fixture comprising a clamping vise adapted to clampframe members of a bicycle and hold the same for repair work andprovided with a single clamping bolt and nut, a horizontal visesupporting shaft provided with a 6 pressure disc and a single lockingstud and nut, a fixture stand for said supporting shaft and providedwith a friction disc in cooperative relation to said pressure disc andlocated between said pressure disc and said locking stud and nut, and afixture base provided with a. single vertical bolt and nut, said fixturestand being rotatable on said fixture base about said vertical bolt,said supporting shaft being rotatable in said fixture stand, and saidvise being operated \by said clamping bolt and nut. I Y,

GEORGE EDWARD NIGHTI-IART.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,312,914 Koszeghy Mar. 2, 1943

